130 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
the great trouble at first; but that difficulty I have also sur¬ 
mounted by hard practice and some risk of dislocating my 
limbs, which required an immense deal of twisting and 
stretching before they would come into the proper position; 
and now I would defy any Turk in Stamboul to squat more 
gracefully. In the matter of chiboucks, great caution and 
judgment are necessary. No person pretending to have the 
slightest claims to Orientalism will disgrace himself by smok¬ 
ing with a glass mouthpiece. Amber is the only true indi¬ 
cation of quality. None but the hamil , or burden-carriers, 
smoke glass. This fact I state for the benefit of all travelers 
who have an ambition to be truly Turkish—the glass mouth¬ 
pieces being so dextrously dolored that it requires an adept to 
distinguish them from amber. When a person pays three 
dollars for a very pretty one, which he supposes to be the 
purest amber, and, after discoursing to all his friends upon 
its superior softness and delicacy of temperature, is quietly 
told by some kind resident, whose opinion he can not dispute, 
that it is common glass, worth about twenty-five cents, he has 
a right to speak feelingly on the subject. The stems must 
be six feet long, and of the best cherry. Jasmine, for short 
smoking, makes an admirable stem, and rosewood is not bad. 
All these can be had and bored to order in the pipe bazaars. 
The perpetual risk of life and limb to which the unwary 
traveler is subjected in rambling about the streets of Con¬ 
stantinople may be regarded as another test of Orientalism. 
I consider that any man who spends three weeks here and 
employs his time usefully in lounging about the bazaars and 
streets of Stamboul, and hanging around the quays and pub¬ 
lic bridges of the Golden Horn, without losing an eye, suffer¬ 
ing dislocation of an ankle, or complete bodily crushing under 
a bale of merchandise, deserves ever after to be regarded as 
a shrewd and accomplished traveler. Hunning a muck among 
the Malays is agreeable pastime compared with the running 
of gauntlets through the streets of Galata or Stamboul. Take 
as an example a morning walk from the Hotel de Byzant to 
the bazaars on the other side of the bridge. 
Confident in your ability to find the way without Carlo, 
